MINNEAPOLIS — Republicans got a more direct path to potential victory Saturday in what is expected to be Minnesota’s tightest congressional race when Republican-backed candidate Tayler Rahm withdrew from a primary battle against the better financed Joe Teirab, which already had the tacit support of key leaders in the House of Representatives.
Rahm, a political novice and attorney, said in a statement that he would change course to serve as a senior adviser to former President Donald Trump’s campaign in Minnesota, where Trump insists he can beat President Joe Biden after coming close to win the traditionally Democratic state in 2016.
That gives Teirab — a Marine Corps veteran, former federal prosecutor and son of a Sudanese immigrant — free rein to take on incumbent Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the highly competitive 2nd District, which covers suburban and rural areas south of Minneapolis and St. Paul and represents one of the best opportunities for the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives.
“In my view, there is nothing more important to this district than removing Biden (or a Democratic nominee) from power and returning Donald Trump to the White House,” Rahm said in a statement. “As such, I will be suspending my campaign activities and focusing on doing everything I can to save our country.”
Rahm won the endorsement with 74% of the vote at the GOP district convention in April, with support from grassroots conservatives, despite Teirab’s huge fundraising lead and expected support from Minnesota establishment Republicans like House faction leader Tom Emmer, who is Trump’s chairman of the state.
Teirab announced Thursday that he raised nearly $700,000 in the second quarter, bringing his total for the cycle to more than $1.5 million, while ending the quarter with more than $813,000 in cash on hand that he can now spend on the general election campaign. Rahm has not yet released his second-quarter numbers.
Craig, who last Saturday called for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race and allow a new nominee, has not yet released her latest quarterly totals, but she ended the first quarter with $2.8 million in the bank.
In a statement Saturday, Teirab offered his “sincere thanks to Tayler Rahm for his selfless decision to drop out of the race to help re-elect Donald J. Trump as president. Tayler is a strong conservative and a tireless fighter for the America First agenda. He ran a tremendous campaign and I can think of no better person to mobilize grassroots conservatives across Minnesota.”
But leaders of the grassroots conservative group Action 4 Liberty accused Rahm of betraying them. The group’s chairman, Erik Mortensen, tweeted that Rahm was “just another corrupt candidate who was easy to buy and pay for.” He also posted a video of Rahm literature and signs burning in an outdoor fireplace, saying: “Take out the trash. So tired of traitors in politics.”
The Republican Party’s campaign arm in the House of Representatives, the National Republican Congressional Committee, immediately endorsed Teirab.
“Tayler Rahm’s selfless decision to put team first allows Republicans to unite and defeat hardline Democrat Angie Craig,” spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement. “Joe Teirab is one of our strongest candidates in the country and will fight tirelessly for the people of Minnesota every day.”
Craig’s campaign team told supporters in a fundraising email that she is facing a pro-Trump extremist.
“National Republicans will flood this district with millions now that they have an official nominee,” Craig said in the email. “The general election begins today and my opponent and his allies will use every dollar at their disposal to unseat me and expand the GOP’s narrow majority in the House of Representatives.”
The Minnesota Democratic Party chairman said they will emphasize Craig’s support for abortion rights in the campaign to keep the suburban seat blue.
“Joe Teirab made it clear throughout his campaign that he is 100% pro-life and will do everything he can to attack abortion rights and roll back reproductive freedoms in Congress,” Ken Martin said in a statement.
